Automatic mine-door.



Bg o'. BYERS af. 0. F'. THIEDEl AUTOMATIC MINE DOOR. V ArPpmATIoN FILEDun. 22, 190s.

4 Patented oct. 6, 190s.

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BENJAMN O. BYERS AND CHARLES F. THIEDE, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO.

AUTOMATIC MINE-DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 6, 1908.

Application led AprI 22, 1908. Serial No. 428,531.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, BENJAMIN O. BYER and CHAnLns F. THIEDE, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Columbus, in the` county of Franklin andState of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inAutomaticMine-Doors, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide improved means for openingVand closing mine doors so that it shall not be necessary for the car manto stop on his way in going either into or out of the mine to manuallyoperate said door.

The invention consists in the details of construction and combination ofparts hereinafter described and claimed, the invention not beingconfined in its embodiment to precisely the forms of the parts shown inthe accompanying drawings. V

ln said draWingsf-Figure'l is a side elevation with parts broken out toshow details, the door being exhibited edgewise; Fig. 2 is an elevationin front view of the door frames or sections and operating devices; Fig.3 is a similar view showing the fabric coverings applied to the doorframes.

In the views 1, 1 designate the track rails on which the mine cars run.

2, 2 designate the xed vertical standards which have secured to theirfaces and parallel thereto strap members 2a and 2a.

The character 3 designates a head or cross connecting piece by whichtogether with the standards the door frames are supported.

Because the frames of the door sections and their operating devicesateach side of the track are duplicates of each other, or halves of thestructure, a description of the parts at one side will suffice for both.Each door frame section includes the folding members 4 and 5 pivotedtogether near their` middles at 6. The member 5 is pin-pivoted at afixed point on the upper portion of the standard or on the strap member,as at 2c, and the member 4 has a sliding pivotal pinconnection, as at 8,near the lower portion of said strap 2a. The other or inner ends of themembers 4 and 5 have pivotally connected to them, at pins 9 and 10, abar `11, the connection at 10 being a sliding one. The pin connectionsat 8 and 10 are connected by jointed links 12 and 13 that break upward.The upper` end of the bar 11 carries capable of being collapsed (seedotted lines Fig. 2) toward and opened from (see full lines same view)the standard 2, and that in folding toward the standard the lower endsof them'embers 4 and 5 are projected downward and conversely. Pivotednear the middle of the strap member 2a or the standard 2 at 14 is a bentlever 15, the inner end of which is` connected by means of a link 16with the pin connection 6, while the outer end thereof is provided witha slot 15a.

17 designates a heavy arm pivoted at 18 alongside and standing in aplane parallel to the track, said arm having its free end within theslot l5a of the lever 15 so that the weight of said arm shall normallytend to hold the door frame in extended or doorwayclosing position.

In front and beyond the door and close to the rails 1, 1 are shortauxiliary rail sections 20. These auxiliary sections are adapted to bedepressed by the car wheel and are supported on crank levers 21 pivotedin bearings at 22, said levers including upwardly extending arms 21a.Pivotally connected to all the arms 21a at each side of the track is abar 23 and said bar is connected by a sliding connection, at 23a, withthe arm 17 so that motion of said bar 23 is communicated to said arm 17,or conversely motion of said arm 17 is communicated to said bar 23. Itwill thus be observed that a car approaching the door from eitherdirection will ride upon the auxiliary rails 2O and depress them andthereby move the folding door sections asunder to open the passage wayinto or out of the mines.V It will also be observed and as can begathered from what has already been said that when the car runs 0E theauxiliary rails 20 the Weight of the arms 17 will tend to throw the doorframes toward each other and close the passage way.

,l To limit the upward throw of the auxiliary rails they can be providedwith downwardly projecting pins 20a containing stops 20b to abut againstthe under side of suitable obstructing plates 25 secured to the ties, asexemplified in Fig. 1.

The frames of the door sections are covered with flexible coverings,preferably canvas, as seen at 24, Fig. 3. And the coverings can besupplemented at the top with a flexible permanent curtain, as seen at26, Fig. 3. These coverings are designed to close the passage Way andkeep the air in the mine or preclude its too rapid discharge. Y

It will be noted that the Weight of the car on the auxiliary rails holdsthe door in open position until the car leaves said auxiliary rails andthat the door cannot close on the car.

That We claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a mine door, the combination With fixed vertical standards 2, offolding door sections each comprising the cross bars et and 5, levers 15linked to the cross bars at their junctions, Weight arms 17 foroperating said levers 15, movable tracks 20, and means connected withsaid arms and with said movable tracks.

2. In a mine door, the combination of lixed standards 2, folding` doorsections each coinprisin` the cross bars l and 5, levers 15 linked tothe cross bars at their junctions, arms 17 for operating said levers 15,movable auxiliary tracks QO, iixed rails 1, horizontally arranged bars23 operative by said rails, Weight arms 17 having` sliding' connecltionwith said bars 23 and the foldingr door sections, substantially asdescribed.

BENJAMIN O. BYE. 1S. CHARLES F. THIRD IG.

itnesses BENJaMiN FiNcKnL, J. E. Srimnrnz.

